How I Spent a week in Florida w/o getting a tan!!!

[ShhhQ]

One of the only things left on my MUST DO list that Mom wasn't going to be able to ride was Test Track!

I had no FP.... but I was riding solo...

Unfortunately, the time listed was almost an hour for the regular line and 30 mins for the solo line..... YIKES!!!!
But I had an hour to kill so figured I could handle it....

I got in the solo line and a minute after I got inside... there was an announcement apologizing for any inconvienence, but the wait times on the outside were incorrect and it would be an extra 20 mins!!!!!

OH NO!!!!!

But I still had time... just hated to wait that long!

Next thing I know, people in front of me are bailing! I don't know how many left, but within a few mins we were escorted into a "briefing room" where they showed what I guess was a simulated training film then we went thru the other door and we almost at the ride!!! 15 min after getting in line, I was sitting in my car!!! Yippppeeeeeee!!

I was a bit nervous though, since I really didn't know what to expect and was afraid it would be jerky, but I loved it...

I would have loved to get pics but seeing as I didn't have a camera on me....

After leaving this ride, I decided to head over to the Seas building to get ready for dinner and to meet Mom... for my Birthday Dinner at Coral Reef!

I was of course early, Mom got lost and called me to come find her..... so we were a few mins late.... not that it mattered, cause the restaurant was running about 15 mins behind!

I found the food excellent and loved the atmosphere.... the only thing I didn't like about our whole dinner was the wait to get our table!

We got a window seat, so we really got a fantastic view of the sealife!

AND I now had my camera back!!!

First the food.... then the wildlife...
I had the Crab Claw salad.... I like the claws but not the salad part...

Mom had the salad

I absolutely adored the potatoes, and the steak was great too!!!

Somehow, I forgot to take pics of dessert but I had the Creme Brulee and Mom ate Cheesecake I believe....

Next up..... all the wildlife that visited us during dinner!!!!

 

[pamouselover]

Great pics, I have never eaten at the coral reef. I want to but, DH and the kids are such picky eaters. I am putting it on my next trip must do list~

 

[ShhhQ]

Coral Reef Pictures!!! (Sorry about the glare on some)

This couple kept making out all through dinner... I thought it was a bit obsene for a FAMILY Restaurant, so I snapped their picture!!!

This character snuck up on my window seat and peered in at me to see what I was eating!!!

SHARK!!!!!!

This little guy knew I was taking pictures, but not of him and he kept swimming by my window until I gave in and snapped his pic....

School is in session

One of the friendly divers that visited our window...

Another diver and a starfish...

Turtle Power!!!

Various creatures....

 

[tracipierce]

Wow Coral reef looks really cool,, gonna put that down as a must do when I next get to Disney!
Loving the trip report so far Michelle, its really taking me back

 

[ShhhQ]

I forgot to mention that they brought me a special menu with a Birthday Wish on it.... I thought that was a nice touch!!!

We probably won't go back to Coral Reef on our next trip, but ONLY because we will want to try some of the different restaurants that Epcot has to offer.

 

[pamouselover]

Love the making out photo~
Hi traci!!!!!!

 

[ShhhQ]

Can't believe it was so long since I last updated... but it makes the trip take longer..lol

After dinner, we went to see Nemo!! I tried to take pics but only a couple turned out....

After that we stayed in the seas building and saw the fishes.... and my very favorite things DOLPHINS!!! (which took at least 150 tries to get a couple decent shots)

Can you find Nemo?

Can't remember what this was, I think its a shark though

the Manatee

Yes this is a fish...

ahhh Nemo...

Finally the Dolphins....

After this it was getting into EMH hours and we decided to not do them because we had been there all day and also had to get up early the next day to leave

But on our way out we saw one more thing we neeeeeded to do... Talk with Crush! I thought it was pretty cool how he was able to respond to people in the audience... however, there was one boy in the audience that had seen the show before and decided to warn Crush that he was gonna get "crushed" by a whale!

Overall it was a wonderful birthday.... rain and all... but we did leave Epcot on a very sour note!
As we were heading toward the gate, I saw a long line inside a building and several of the characters.... that is when I realized, we were gonna leave Disney and I never got a single pic of MICKEY!!!! I started to get in line just so I could get a pic of him, but realized that Mom was extremely tired and it wasn't fair to make her wait any longer, so I got back out of the line. But even if I couldn't get close to him I still wanted to try and get a pic of Mickey.... he was the first in the line and closest to the door. I figured if I just stood at the door and took his pic it would be good enough. However, there was a CM standing at the door, so I felt compelled to ask if it was ok for me to take a pic from that spot... I was told absolutely NOT!!! I had to wait in line like everyone else!!! Sooooo I was steaming mad, but left without a picture of my favorite Mouse.... I should have just done it and not asked permission!!!!

Our Disney trip was over, but that is not the end of my story... we had an interesting trip home as well....

 

[ShhhQ]

When we returned to Pop, I had cooled off (temper wise) from my final encounter at Epcot... I had decided since we had to have the scooters down at the luggage place by 9am and I knew Mom wouldn't be able to help me do it, to leave my scooter that night and bring hers down in the morning.
We went to our room and started packing our items up some and ate our cake! However, on the night we arrived I had locked some of Mom's valuebles in the safe.... but ummmm we were on our final night and I COULDN'T remember where I had left the key! We had to call maintance to come open the safe!!!! I was sooooooo embarrassed! But felt better when he told us that it happens occasionally. I never did find the key, but after we left I started thinking that I may have slid it under the mattress.... but will never know now.

The next morning, I took Mom's scooter down to the luggage assistance and ran into an older Gentleman on his own scooter and had a nice conversation with him.... I do believe that this turned out to be dismom9761's Dad....Isn't it a small world? But neither of us knew anything about the other when we talking.... (I had already taken my LGMHs off my scooter before returning it).

Long story short, I got the room emptied and the car loaded, we then went to use our final meal credits for breakfast at Everything Pop. In the middle of breakfast I realized it was getting late and I still had to go check out, so I ran and did that.... we used up our snack credits on things to take home with us and picked up our package from MK... then left the WORLD!

Unfortunately, we had to go pick up our rider again (wish we had left her there in Florida, but I can't be that mean) On the way, we stopped at the first rest area south of Disney.... and while walking back to the car I noticed this sign... glad I didn't see it till we were coming back....

YIKES!!!!!

We picked up our guest at about 12:30, and drove north..... by 6pm we still hadn't reached the Georgia state line.... we were making HORRIBLE TIME! As the only driver in the car, I tried to drive as far as I could but found myself getting too tired we ended up stopping about a 100 miles south of Atlanta!
Not gonna talk much about the trip home to make it short, just the highlights....
When we started the car up the next morning, the check engine light decided to come on and stay on!!!! I was freaking! But checked everything and it seemed to be ok.... (there is a recall on a mechanism that deploys the airbag and this is probably the reason this light was on, we didn't have any problems with that the entire rest of the trip). But our passenger decided it was a problem.... she kept getting phone calls as we were driving (not to mention the million calls she made) and kept telling people (whom Mom and I have no idea who she was talking to) that we were having car problems, and that Mom had fallen and hurt her leg (she had ran into something and bruised her leg, she was on plavix at the time so the bruise was very large and dark). We were totally ticked off at her, but she didn't notice! We were driving thru ATLANTA and she was sitting there yaking on the PHONE!

I kept driving trying to get home for several reasons....
1. The drive was wearing Mom out
2. Our passenger was driving us crazy
3. I had to work the following evening (labor day)

But halfway thru Kentucky, it was getting late and I was getting tired!
We decided, it was better to be safe and stopped one more night!

Another day.... an hour or so on the road and we actually crossed into INDIANA!!!! But we were getting low on gas.... so started looking for a station.... but before that happened we were driving down the center lane and there were cars on either side of me.... a piece of truck tire was in the road ahead of me and there was no way to go around it... so I tried to stradle it....BIG MISTAKE! Instead of just letting me passively go past it, it flipped up and hit the underside of the van! I was hoping it did no damage, but couldn't tell.

Soon as I found an exit with a decent gas station, I pulled off and filled the tank. I remember at the time thinking someone had spilled gas at the station cause the fumes were strong. We continued down the road stopped at a rest area just south of Indy and I again smelled gas..... that is when it hit me what had happened. A few miles down the road we stopped to have lunch and even though we had only gone 100 miles or so since filling up we were now at half a tank! Mom and I knew what was going on, but tried not to make a big deal of it because of our passenger. We made it home, but we sitting on empty when we pulled in the drive.... less than 200 miles on a tank of gas! It turned out that we had put a hole in the gas line and the fumes were blowing on the exhaust.... it could have blown up at any time!! God had his hand on us!!!!!

We got home, walked in the door and my brother's first words to me......
"What, no tan?"

Thank you for reading my trip report I enjoyed reliving it!
We have been talking about going back next year with my brother, but no passengers allowed! We don't know if we will have the money yet or not.... but here's to WISHING!

 

[sunlver]

Thanks for such a great trip report. I really enjoyed reading about all your adventures.

 

[kimsuenew]

Where were you at that there was actually a venemous snake warning sign? WOW!

The report was great!

 

[ShhhQ]

Where were you at that there was actually a venemous snake warning sign? WOW!

The report was great!

I couldn't tell you the exact exit but we had just left Disney and went south on I-4 going toward Lakeland and stopped at the first rest area we saw!

 

[tracipierce]

Such a lovely trip report Michelle, I really enjoyed it! I'm like you, I don't know when I'm gonna have the money to get to Disney again, but I know I will be back some day!!!
Bye for now
HI to you too pamouselover!

 

[winniethepoohsmom]

I'm glad you had a nice birthday dinner I loved the pics from the Coral Reef! I'm also very glad you made it home safely, between the sleeping pills on the way down and the gas line on the way home you must've had an angel on your shoulder! Linda

 

[ShhhQ]

I'm glad you had a nice birthday dinner I loved the pics from the Coral Reef! I'm also very glad you made it home safely, between the sleeping pills on the way down and the gas line on the way home you must've had an angel on your shoulder! Linda

That is how I felt!